Morality is not determined by the church you attend nor the faith you embrace. It is determined by the quality of your character and the positive impact you have on those you meet along your journey
Friday, October 18, 2013
Final thought for the day.
Even if you do not agree with us about religion, you do kind of have to admit that this is true.
I was brought into this world and raised with no religious belief. I can't tell you how foreign all this is to me. Really, do the majority have to deal with either "believing" or "getting rid of beliefs"?
Huge numbers of people are raised WITH religious beliefs. They are saddled (in my mind they are, anyway) with this affliction without any choice for the most part because they are inducted into this belief system by their parents. You are one of the lucky ones. I am not.
As to your question, far too many are so brain washed they never even question the idea and thus are not afflicted with having to decide.
A minority seem able to step back and actually look at what they were inculcated with and actually wonder. Some are immediately slapped back into place and stop questioning. Some "return to the fold" of their own volition. Some continue to question and are vilified by those still believing - including, many times, their own "loving" families. And, to be fair, some actually come INTO their religious beliefs on their own.
And in some countries, it is actually something which can get one executed.
I was raised with xian fears. I couldn't understand the terrible things in the bible that happened to people. I went to Sunday school and church and really, really tried to be good. It was scary and confusing. The teachings I heard supported abusive families, sexual violence and racial hatred.
I broke free, but lost my family. My family of former slave owners that to this day thinks itself superior. My family that supported violence against women and children.
Unless you have left the cult, walked away with no one you know to help you, you do not know how scary and difficult it is.
I'm glad I did. But it is lonely and very scary. Then the sun comes up, and things get better.
Sometimes it is lonely, but not for long, right? You made the right decision. Sometimes I think my life would be easier if I could continue to blame all bad thingsl on a man in the sky. But when I listen to others rant about how things are god's will, and he only gives us what we can handles, i think: What a mean sadistic fuck he must be lol!!!
I was raised in Christianity with an us or them, heaven or hell based reality. It was very hard to leave it after being terrorized since childhood. I raised my child in a different country, but we were still pressed to declare a religion. She went to one class, which was about Noah and the flood, and came home terrified about the horrible power that flooded and drowned so much. That was the end of us conforming to myths. No more! I told her it was an old superstition from people who didn't understand science. Our lives have been much happier since we left superstition behind. We joke about the flying spaghetti monster - why not? - but live happy, productive lives without needing magical creatures.
The day I consciously "gave up" my religion was VERY scary (I was brought up uber Catholic), at the end of the day, I knew I had made the right decision. Great message, thanks.
I gave up my belief at about age five, so it wasn't so hard. What was hard, was having to "fake it" for all those years. Going to church and feeling like you are the only one who doesn't believe the bunk that they are preaching from the pulpit, and knowing that if you said what you truly believed, it would open up some horrible can of worms like having them try to reprogram you...................well, that was kind of a heavy burden for a youngster. I didn't even start to admit that I was atheist until I was well into my twenties, and it was only to a few trusted friends. My kids won' have to go through it, thank goodness!
I was raised a Mormon. I rejected this nonsense by my late teens. The Mormon church keeps track of members, and occasionally sends 'home teachers' or missionaries to talk to you. Usually they're nice and we chat awkwardly for a few minutes, but occasionally you get a young missionary who is a total pompous prick. Anyhow, what's interesting to me is, these people can never understand that someone would reject their claptrap because it's ludicrous. Apparently it all makes perfect sense to them. They know, in their heart, that I've apostatized because the lure of sin was too great for me. They scan my apartment for tell tale signs of alcoholism and sexual deviance. They would be relieved to find stacks of empty beer cans and piles of booby magazines, and I always feels badly that I can't oblige them.
My sister was Lutheran and converted to Catholicism.
She didn't do it because she was smart or brave. Pretty much the opposite.
She was dating a Catholic and was hoping to marry him, so she went to his church, attended classes, etc. The out of the blue tells us all she's converting.
My Mother did not attend the ceremony, nor did she set a place at the dinner table for her for weeks.
My sister did this because she is a sheep. She can't make her own decisions. She is not a free and critical thinker. (She believes everything they say on Faux Noise). She is fine with having someone else make the decisions and tell her what she should believe. She is great with following rules others make for her, never questioning them.
Me? I'm smart and brave. I was raised Lutheran but I question it constantly. I don't attend church any more. While I doubt I will completely give up my religion, I certainly have denied many aspects of it. Especially the evangelical and political aspects of it. The last service I attended, the newly hired pastor that had just passed his probation and signed his permanent contract spewed about the sins of homosexuals and single mothers. I should have gotten up right in the middle and walked out. Instead I politely waited until the end, left out a side door so I wouldn't have to shake his hand, then Monday morning I called the office, requested my name be stricken from the church membership directory and that no one from church ever contact me ever again.
I'll never be an atheist. I may never be a true agnostic. But I certainly have the free will and critical thinking not to swallow everything any religious fanatic or professed religious leader claims as "the word of God".
I surrendered my religious beliefs, and I approve this message!
ReplyDeleteDitto!
Deleteme three
DeleteI was brought into this world and raised with no religious belief. I can't tell you how foreign all this is to me. Really, do the majority have to deal with either "believing" or "getting rid of beliefs"?
ReplyDelete@ 8:37.
DeleteYes and no.
Huge numbers of people are raised WITH religious beliefs. They are saddled (in my mind they are, anyway) with this affliction without any choice for the most part because they are inducted into this belief system by their parents. You are one of the lucky ones. I am not.
As to your question, far too many are so brain washed they never even question the idea and thus are not afflicted with having to decide.
A minority seem able to step back and actually look at what they were inculcated with and actually wonder. Some are immediately slapped back into place and stop questioning. Some "return to the fold" of their own volition. Some continue to question and are vilified by those still believing - including, many times, their own "loving" families. And, to be fair, some actually come INTO their religious beliefs on their own.
And in some countries, it is actually something which can get one executed.
I was raised with xian fears. I couldn't understand the terrible things in the bible that happened to people. I went to Sunday school and church and really, really tried to be good. It was scary and confusing. The teachings I heard supported abusive families, sexual violence and racial hatred.
ReplyDeleteI broke free, but lost my family. My family of former slave owners that to this day thinks itself superior. My family that supported violence against women and children.
Unless you have left the cult, walked away with no one you know to help you, you do not know how scary and difficult it is.
I'm glad I did. But it is lonely and very scary. Then the sun comes up, and things get better.
Welcome to the club 11:55! And congratulations.
DeleteIt really is a hard row to hoe, isn't it? But as you say, so very warm in the sun!
Sometimes it is lonely, but not for long, right? You made the right decision. Sometimes I think my life would be easier if I could continue to blame all bad thingsl on a man in the sky. But when I listen to others rant about how things are god's will, and he only gives us what we can handles, i think: What a mean sadistic fuck he must be lol!!!
DeleteThank you, Anonymous8:37 PM
ReplyDeleteI was raised in Christianity with an us or them, heaven or hell based reality. It was very hard to leave it after being terrorized since childhood. I raised my child in a different country, but we were still pressed to declare a religion. She went to one class, which was about Noah and the flood, and came home terrified about the horrible power that flooded and drowned so much. That was the end of us conforming to myths. No more! I told her it was an old superstition from people who didn't understand science. Our lives have been much happier since we left superstition behind. We joke about the flying spaghetti monster - why not? - but live happy, productive lives without needing magical creatures.
The day I consciously "gave up" my religion was VERY scary (I was brought up uber Catholic), at the end of the day, I knew I had made the right decision. Great message, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI gave up my belief at about age five, so it wasn't so hard. What was hard, was having to "fake it" for all those years. Going to church and feeling like you are the only one who doesn't believe the bunk that they are preaching from the pulpit, and knowing that if you said what you truly believed, it would open up some horrible can of worms like having them try to reprogram you...................well, that was kind of a heavy burden for a youngster. I didn't even start to admit that I was atheist until I was well into my twenties, and it was only to a few trusted friends. My kids won' have to go through it, thank goodness!
ReplyDeleteI was raised a Mormon. I rejected this nonsense by my late teens. The Mormon church keeps track of members, and occasionally sends 'home teachers' or missionaries to talk to you. Usually they're nice and we chat awkwardly for a few minutes, but occasionally you get a young missionary who is a total pompous prick. Anyhow, what's interesting to me is, these people can never understand that someone would reject their claptrap because it's ludicrous. Apparently it all makes perfect sense to them. They know, in their heart, that I've apostatized because the lure of sin was too great for me. They scan my apartment for tell tale signs of alcoholism and sexual deviance. They would be relieved to find stacks of empty beer cans and piles of booby magazines, and I always feels badly that I can't oblige them.
ReplyDelete@3:03.
DeleteQuestion: Why haven't you told them to stop coming?
Why do you even let them in the door? You don't need to be polite to them. They are violating your privacy.
DeleteThey are no different than unsolicited encyclopedia salesmen.
When you open the door and see who it is, just tell them "Not interested" and shut the door.
My sister was Lutheran and converted to Catholicism.
ReplyDeleteShe didn't do it because she was smart or brave. Pretty much the opposite.
She was dating a Catholic and was hoping to marry him, so she went to his church, attended classes, etc. The out of the blue tells us all she's converting.
My Mother did not attend the ceremony, nor did she set a place at the dinner table for her for weeks.
My sister did this because she is a sheep. She can't make her own decisions. She is not a free and critical thinker. (She believes everything they say on Faux Noise). She is fine with having someone else make the decisions and tell her what she should believe. She is great with following rules others make for her, never questioning them.
Me? I'm smart and brave. I was raised Lutheran but I question it constantly. I don't attend church any more. While I doubt I will completely give up my religion, I certainly have denied many aspects of it. Especially the evangelical and political aspects of it. The last service I attended, the newly hired pastor that had just passed his probation and signed his permanent contract spewed about the sins of homosexuals and single mothers. I should have gotten up right in the middle and walked out. Instead I politely waited until the end, left out a side door so I wouldn't have to shake his hand, then Monday morning I called the office, requested my name be stricken from the church membership directory and that no one from church ever contact me ever again.
I'll never be an atheist. I may never be a true agnostic. But I certainly have the free will and critical thinking not to swallow everything any religious fanatic or professed religious leader claims as "the word of God".